Sparing the body, breast cancer treatment via nipple injection

This is an example of gene-targeting in a mouse mammary gland using this technique. Here, a fluorescent gene-targeting substance was injected via the nipple duct, and is shown to have targeted an example gene, cyclophilin. Credit: JoVE

On October 4, JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, will publish a new technique for breast cancer treatment and prevention—injection of therapeutics via the nipple. The procedure, demonstrated on mice, offers direct access to the most common origin of breast cancer, the milk ducts, and could be used to offer cancer therapy that spares healthy regions of the body.

"Local delivery of therapeutic agents into the breast, through intra-nipple injection, could diminish the side effects typically observed with systemic chemotherapy—where the toxic drugs pass through all of the tissues of the body," said Dr. Silva Krause, one of the researchers behind the experiment, "It also prevents drug breakdown by the liver, for example, which can rapidly reduce effective drug levels."

According to Krause, she and her colleagues have already begun experimentation in applying the method. "The authors have utilized this technique to inject a new nanoparticle-based therapeutic that inhibits a specific gene that drives breast cancer formation," said Krause, "This targeted treatment was shown to prevent cancer progression in mice that spontaneously develop mammary tumors, [and] is currently in review in Science Translational Medicine."

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

In this video, scientists demonstrate how to deliver drugs to the mammary gland via nipple-injection. Credit: JoVE

In order to better communicate their procedure, Krause and her colleagues decided to publish with JoVE. "Because the reader can actually watch the process and see how reagents, instruments, and animals are physically handled over time, the likelihood of reproducing this method in their own labs is greatly enhanced," Krause said. "We believe this will help spread this new technical capability to many labs who are carrying out breast cancer research."

A research team led by scientists from VIB/KU Leuven, Belgium, and the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, in collaboration with several research centers and hospitals in Italy, the United Kingdom and, Belgium, has identified ...

Breast cancer can be divided into 4 major subtypes using molecular and genetic information from the tumors. Each subtype is associated with different prognosis and should be taken into consideration when making treatment ...

Scientists have identified higher levels of a receptor protein found on the surface of human breast tumour cells that may serve as a new drug target for the treatment of breast cancer. The results, which are published today ...

Researchers have identified a protein that they believe may help predict breast cancer prognosis, potentially relieving thousands of women at low risk from having to undergo painful, oft-debilitating therapies, while insuring ...

For all their lethality, cancer cells don't look much different from healthy cells, a simple fact that causes endless pain and suffering. Finding cancer cells that have spread and threaten to grow into metastatic ...